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I get a lot of questions about how to use Excel and whether<br>
you should use it. I know if you don't know how to use Excel<br>
it may take a little bit of time to figure things out. This has<br>
been covered in lab for exp 1 (SOL). You can also go to<br>
Microsoft's Support page for free tutorials,<br>
<br>
<a href="https://support.office.com/">https://support.office.com/</a><br>
<br>
I have several links explaining how to do certain things in<br>
Excel. I'm using a much older (but wiser) version of Excel<br>
(2003). My explanations generally pertain to that version.<br>
I do have a link that explains some differences between<br>
this older version and the newer versions (mainly 2007,<br>
the more recent versions are similar to 2007).<br>
<br>
You can find these links by going to the following links first,<br>
<br>
<a
href="http://www.chemistry.ohio-state.edu/%7Erzellmer/excel/excel.htm"><b>Using
MS Excel for Reports</b></a><br>
<br>
<a
href="http://www.chemistry.osu.edu/%7Erzellmer/chem1220/faq/faq_1220.htm"><b>Helpful
Tidbits for 1220</b></a><br>
<br>
The same links can be found in both places. The specific<br>
links are,<br>
<br>
<a
href="https://cbc-wb01x.chemistry.ohio-state.edu/%7Erzellmer/excel/excel.txt"><b>Using
Excel for Calculations and Graphs</b></a><br>
<br>
<a
href="https://cbc-wb01x.chemistry.ohio-state.edu/%7Erzellmer/excel/Excel2007.txt"><b>Using
Excel 2007 (Some differences to Excel 2003)</b></a><br>
<br>
I highly encourage the use of Excel, both for calculations and<br>
doing graphs.<br>
<br>
Even if it takes you a bit of time to learn what you need to know it<br>
will save you a lot of time in the end. This is true for most exps
and<br>
very true for Exp 3 (BAR, similar to my example for the old exp 17)<br>
in Chem 1220. If you don't use Excel (or some other graphing
program)<br>
it will take a lot of time to complete the calculations and graphs.
Don't<br>
even get me started on what kind of grief you will experience for
Exp 3<br>
if you are doing things by hand and make a calculation error and
don't<br>
catch it before making the graphs. The calculations in Exp 3 are
simple<br>
but there's about 200 calculations. You don't want to have to do
all of<br>
these by hand and especially not all over again if you make a
mistake.<br>
Look at the example for exp 14 (dHv, vapor pressure exp) below my<br>
"Laboratory" link. It shows how to program in eqns and get more
than<br>
one data set on a graph (you learned how to do this the 2nd lab
period for<br>
the SOL exp). If you have trouble you can always stop by to ask
questions.<br>
<br>
One question students always ask when using Excel is how to<br>
set the significant figures in the tables and graphs. I've
explained<br>
this in the "Using Excel for Calculations and Graphs" document.<br>
You can't actually set the sig. fig. but you can set the number of<br>
decimal places Excel displays in order to get the correct number<br>
of sig. fig. If you do this in your tables before plotting, the
labels<br>
on your axes will contain the same number of decimal places<br>
(sig. fig.) as in the tables.<br>
<br>
<b>What if you don't have Excel?</b><br>
<br>
As stated in lab and a message from the lab director, you can get<br>
Microsoft Office for free on campus.<br>
<br>
<b>Do you have to use Excel?</b><b><br>
<br>
</b>You do not have to use Excel to do your calculations. However,
I<br>
would suggest learning how to use it. It will come in handy this<br>
semester. There are a few labs which will require a lot of
calculations. <br>
They will go much quicker if you use Excel. Besides, it's a very <br>
useful skill to have. You should at least be using it or something<br>
else for the graphs. Don't do them by hand.<br>
<br>
<b>Do I still have to show sample calculations if I use Excel to do
them?</b><b><br>
</b><br>
As stated above, I encourage the use of Excel (or a similar program)
to<br>
do your calculations. That's really the best thing to do in terms
of saving<br>
time.<b> You will still have</b> <b>to show sample calculations in
the report.</b><br>
Just printing the equations as they appear in Excel is not
sufficient.<br>
<br>
If you make the Excel sheet look like the report sheet (with titles,<br>
headings, etc.) you can include the Excel sheet in your template as
the<br>
data pages (the Presentation of Data pages in the template).
Several<br>
templates tell you what tables to make in Excel and to include them
in<br>
the report. You do not have to copy all the data over to the data
sheet.<br>
You have to make sure you have units (best to put them in the
headings)<br>
and have the correct number of sig. fig. You can't set sig. fig.
in Excel<br>
but can set the decimal places to get the correct sig. fig. <br>
<br>
<b>What do I do about margins and page orientation in Word and Excel
not</b><b><br>
</b><b>matching up?<br>
</b><b> </b><br>
Tough question because it depends on what version you're using.
Often times<br>
Word will not keep the margins you set in Excel and you have to
adjust things<br>
in word to get the margins you set in Excel. Same for orientation.
Excel by<br>
default does graphs in Landscape mode (x-axis on long edge of
paper). They<br>
tend to look better that way. I do have a link with some
instructions using a<br>
more recent versions of Word and Excel at the <a
href="http://chemistry.osu.edu/%7Erzellmer/excel/excel.htm"><b>Using
MS Excel for Reports</b></a> link.<br>
<br>
I hope these things help.<br>
<br>
Dr. Zellmer
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